Snow Angel (24 page)

Not tonight.

If she wanted to dance, and she did, she’d be perfectly happy doing the asking, even if she had to approach a few strangers. She felt lit up inside, like a rocket set to go off, her freshly admitted love for Jacob burning her up with excitement. If she didn’t dance, she’d explode.

As it turned out, her pumped-up courage wasn’t necessary.

Hannah, the girl she’d met in her intermediate ski class on their first day, hailed her as soon as she walked through the door from the heavily festooned foyer and into the enormous ballroom. The lodge employees had decked the whole place out for the festivities.

“Melinda! Wow, you’re glowing. Awesome dress, too!” Hannah shouted over the roar of the music, grabbing Melinda by the hand and turning with her to scan the glittering crowd. Hannah’s dress, an equally slinky, deep, sunset orange, sparkled in the low lighting. “Great party, isn’t it?”

The room looked amazing.

Multi-colored balloons covered every inch of the ceiling, trailing curlicued ribbons in matching hues above the party-goers’ heads, and confetti already fluttered in shallow waves across the floor, kicked up and swirled by dancing feet. A banquet table by the doors held rows of party hats for guests to wear, as well as a selection of noisemakers, and piles of colorful, beaded necklaces with the new year hanging off of them in giant plastic numbers.

Across the far wall, a long section had been cordoned off to keep the alcohol service separate from the main room and away from the under-aged partiers, the security presence thick and obvious. A busy bar with multiple lines five people deep served glasses of wine or champagne or bottles of beer.

Outside the roped-off area, rows of small, cloth-covered tables held warming trays full of finger foods or decorative glasses containing petite desserts. The round fireplace in the middle of the room crackled with cheerful flames.

“Incredible,” Melinda agreed, nearly vibrating with excitement on her spindly heels.

“Come on!” Hannah tugged on her hand excitedly, bouncing in her strappy sandals.

Waving to her parents and Jacob’s as the older couples wandered toward the other grown-ups, Melinda followed Hannah to the party-favor table, grinning as Hannah draped five or six necklaces around her own neck and held out a like number to Melinda.

Melinda passed on the necklaces, selecting a sparkly-silver New Year’s tiara instead. She placed it carefully, trying not to destroy the curls she’d so painstakingly arranged on top of her head earlier. The rest of her hair fell in springy spirals down her partially-bare back.

Thus accessorized, Melinda followed Hannah to the group of people the other girl was hanging out with. They included a few instructors and ski patrol people Melinda had seen around, though not actually spoken to, and a couple of college kids Hannah had met who, like Hannah, were staying in the lodge itself rather than the condos or cabins.

Someone shoved a glass of cider into Melinda’s hand with a shouted, “If you want something stronger, you’ll have to get a wrist band and wait in line.”

The girl pointed toward the bar area and the security guard checking arm bands before letting people through the rope. Melinda noticed her parents were already in line.

The group welcomed her as one of their own. They danced and talked and laughed, the shine firmly back in place on the night, and Melinda whirled around the floor feeling flirty and full of fun.

It seemed only natural when Dane strode in around ten o’clock and joined their boisterous group.

Dressed in a black suit with a dark raspberry shirt and a heavily patterned tie, his hair slicked back and his grin wide and gleaming, he made a handsome sight. Melinda greeted him with a genuine smile.

Grabbing her by the hand, he swung her around and twirled her into a deep dip in the middle of the dance floor, then pulled her up and into his muscular arms.

He danced well, which in her experience was unusual, since only Rick and Jacob of her personal circle enjoyed dancing and were actually good at it. Her brother, all of their cousins, their friends, and most of the guys she’d known in her life stuck to the hold-tight-and-sway-slowly-in-one-spot school of dance when they weren’t deliberately hamming it up with moves like some obscure wild animal’s terrifying mating ritual.

“You look amazing,” Dane said, whispering the words into her ear, his mouth close to her skin, making her shiver.

In her heels, Melinda nearly matched his height, though his tightly corded arms and wide chest made her very aware of his size and strength. She pulled his right hand back in place at her waist, as it tended to wander downward if she wasn’t careful, but she smiled her thanks for the compliment.

“Red is perfect for you,” he continued, and his hand snuck around her side so that his warm fingers brushed her bare skin where the cutouts in the dress left her back exposed.

“Thank you,” Melinda said, shifting a bit to remove the skin-to-skin contact.

Scanning the crowded room, she wondered what was keeping her guys. It was fortunate for Dane that they hadn’t shown up yet, as more than one of them would likely take exception to his roving hands.

Just then, her cousins and their friends descended on the party, and Melinda’s heart skipped a beat in pride. They looked so handsome in their dressy clothes.

Her cousins had already shed their suit jackets, though Rick sported a charcoal vest, and they all three looked camera-ready in their jewel-toned dress shirts and black slacks.

Gabe scanned the crowd, dark and dangerous in all black, which made his eyes glow like emeralds even from across the crowded room. Eddie, too, was striking in a dark gray suit and teal shirt. Wendell, as usual on dressy occasions, had gone for wild. He wore a crazily patterned vest in a swirl of vivid colors that clashed marvelously with his red hair, and pants almost the same blue-green shade as Eddie’s shirt.

But it was Jacob who took her breath away.

He stood shoulder-to-shoulder with her Viking-god cousins, his sable, bronze-tipped hair glinting beneath the crystal chandeliers. Like the others, he’d dispensed with his suit jacket, and his dark-copper silk shirt set off the width of his shoulders, his muscular arms, and his perennially tanned skin. The fabric smoothed over his body, skimming down to his tapered waist, and his charcoal dress slacks accentuated the length of his legs.

He grinned at something Rick said, strong white teeth flashing between his sensual lips and deep dimples popping beneath his carved cheekbones.

Something inside her went liquidy and hot, and she shivered deliciously.

He looked amazing.

“Cold?” Dane asked.

“Hmm?” Melinda answered absently, pulling her attention back to her dance partner with effort. Her eyes kept straying to Jacob. He hadn’t seen her yet.

“Melinda?” Dane repeated, grasping her chin with one hand to pull her gaze back to his. “I asked if you were cold.”

Delicately removing herself from his too-firm hold, Melinda said, “No, I’m fine, thanks, but my friends have arrived. Excuse me.”

A frustrated frown creased Dane’s brow as he followed the direction of her gaze, but he dipped his head in a sort of awkward bow. “I’ll find you later for another dance.”

At that moment, Jacob’s eyes found her, and the bolt that sizzled across the space between them lit her up inside in ways that made her needy and weak. She was amazed the arc of energy had not been clearly visible.

“Melinda,” Dane said again, impatience biting through the loudness of the music.

Not really listening, Melinda said, “All right,” over her shoulder, and continued moving toward the door.

By the time she reached the entryway, the other guys had already tossed waves her way and moved off in the direction of a group of twenty-something girls in high heels and tiny skirts, but Jacob tracked every step of her progress to his side.

“Melinda,” he said, his eyes dark and smoldering as they took her in from head to toe, “you’re spectacular.”

When Jacob looked at her in that hungry, devouring way, her insides writhed with an anticipatory sort of thrill. And there was something about the way Jacob said her full name, something he rarely did, that stroked across her senses like a caress, making her shiver with pleasure.

“You look pretty spectacular yourself,” she said. She smiled into his sparkling eyes, taking in his tall, striking form in turn, and every bit as appreciatively. He had to be the handsomest man in the room. “All the girls are drooling.”

Jacob’s eyes never left her face.

“What girls?” he said as if there were no other women in the world, let alone in the room, and she laughed to cover the sharp up-tick in her pulse rate.

“What took you guys so long?” she asked, wondering if he could see her heart dancing in her eyes. “It’s almost eleven already.”

Jacob snorted, seeming to shake himself out of the trance he’d fallen into as he’d stared at her. “One guess,” he said.

“Rick?”

“Got it in one.” Jacob shook his head. “I don’t know how he ever makes a curtain call. We were going to come ahead without him, but he kept saying he was almost ready. Moron.”

“You all should know better than to fall for that by now,” Melinda said, chuckling. Rick was notorious.

“I know it.” Jacob blew out an exasperated breath. “What did we miss?”

“Not a lot. Everyone’s just dancing and hanging out.”

Jerking his chin in the direction of the bar, Jacob asked, “Is that your little Belgian waffle?”

Following his line of sight, Melinda made out Dane’s blond head amidst the crowd. She shrugged, having already dismissed the ski instructor from mind.

“He’s not my little anything,” she said, “he’s just a guy. Anyway, he sort of creeps me out.”

Melinda regretted the words the instant they left her mouth. Jacob’s gaze arrowed back to hers, his eyes slitted and glinting dangerously.

“In what way?”

His voice, terse and hard, made her wrinkle her nose, wishing she’d been less forthcoming. Jacob—all the guys in their group, really—had a protective streak a mile wide.

Which wasn’t a problem, but she didn’t want anything to mar the night, least of all anything to do with Dane.

“Nothing, never mind,” she said. “He’s just not my type.”

“Mel,” Jacob said, a warning in his tone.

“Honestly,” she answered, and tugged on his arm. “Forget it. Come on, let’s dance.”

Jacob allowed her to tow him onto the floor, though his gaze strayed frequently to Dane’s side of the room.

One of their favorite rock songs came on, and soon enough Jacob seemed to forget about the other man, refocusing all his attention on her. He was such a good dancer. Melinda loved twirling around the floor with him. Her laughter bubbled over every time he grabbed her hand and spun her around.

She was gasping for breath by the time the song ended, a wide smile on her lips as the next one started.

A slow song.

Without missing a beat, Jacob moved his body into hers, pulling her tightly against him and holding her to his chest. His heart beat rapidly beneath her ear, and his scent—spicy, woodsy, all male—filled her senses.

Closing her eyes, Melinda gave herself up to the sensations surrounding her, Jacob’s strong arms around her, his wide chest cushioning her head. Everywhere their bodies touched seemed to sizzle. His big, warm palm seared her bare back, like a pleasure burn on her skin.

Even her scalp tingled.

He moved with her effortlessly. In Melinda’s mind, the melody wrapped around them and seemed to transport them to an island of their own in the midst of the crowded room.

Midnight was coming, and with it the time for a New Year’s kiss.

Jacob, Jacob, Jacob.

Her friend.

Her best friend, but she no longer feared the something more beating within her heart. Love, strong and sure, powerful and uplifting.

Earth-shattering.

A feeling she’d been fighting for far too long.

How could she have ever doubted her love for him? At one time, she’d worried perhaps it was only that lowest relationship denominator—sexual attraction. Mixed with friendship and history, of course, but… Attraction didn’t equal love.

Yet it was definitely part of it, and desire for him fairly screamed through her system.

Did he know? Would he guess if he stared too long into her eyes? She’d have to be careful until the time was right for them to talk. To convince him they were meant to be together.

Friends and lovers, forever.

It would be smarter—safer—to be cautious. She couldn’t risk scaring him off or letting herself get carried away too soon, not with so much unsaid, and uncertain, between them. She certainly couldn’t risk their friendship unless she was a thousand percent positive of his feelings.

If he didn’t love her the same way, she would die a little inside, but she wouldn’t give up their friendship for anything. Even the safety of her own heart.

Melinda rubbed her cheek over Jacob’s chest, tightening her arms around him. She wished she could kiss him right there in the middle of the dance floor in front of everyone.